The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) inspired an outpouring of responses among Canadian cultural producers. Yet, the war and its influence on Canada literature have received little attention in histories of Canadian cultural production. This anthology attempts to remedy this gap and inspire future research into Canadian Spanish Civil War literature. The anthology brings together a selection of diverse literary materials—fiction, poetry, drama, reportage, journalism, pamphlets, memoirs, and other life writing—representing just a fraction of the Canadian cultural production inspired by the Spanish conflict. Many of these texts have never been published before, having been largely dispersed in archives across the world.
This selected anthology joins Ted Allan’s This Time a Better Earth, Hugh Garner’s Best Stories, and Charles Yale Harrison’s Meet Me on the Barricades in the Spanish Civil War subseries of the University of Ottawa Press’s Canadian Literature Collection. Together, these edited texts are now re-circulating under a common banner to establish what we consider to be the first stage in the recovery of anglophone Canadian literature about the Spanish Civil War. To further situate the literary texts included here, we include a scholarly introduction, and a full apparatus of author biographies, textual notes, and explanatory notes. The introduction provides an historical-cultural overview of the 1930s to contextualize Canadian involvement in the Spanish Civil War and the cultural production the war generated. After establishing a historical and cultural context, we explain the rationale we’ve applied to the selection of texts for inclusion. The notes explain specific historical-cultural terms and trace the publication histories and editorial evolutions of each text.
Table of Contents
1. Acknowledgements
2. Introduction
3. Editorial Rationale
4. Reportage and Journalism
“Blood for Spanish Democracy” by Ted Allan.
“Bombardment at Albacete” by Ted Allan.
“An Interview with Ernest Hemingway” by Ted Allan.
“Apology for Not Writing Letters” by Norman Bethune.
“Cable to the Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy” by Norman Bethune.
“Letter to All Canadian Doctors” by Norman Bethune.
“Spanish Loyalists Hammer Fascists” by The Daily Clarion.
“Spanish Scene” by Roy Davis.
“Radio Broadcast” by William Kardash.
“Cheering Audience Greets Bethune” by The People’s Advocate.
“Let ’em Eat Cake” by Rebecca Rouge.
“Britain Won’t Allow Fascists to Conquer Dr. Bethune Declares” by William Strange.
“Loyalist Medico Tells of Horrors Enacted by Moorish Legions” by the Toronto Star.
“Bethune Escapes Death” by Jean Watts.
“Information Bulletin” by Jean Watts.
“Italian Fascists Bombed Own Lines” by Jean Watts.
“Madrid Senoritas Work for Victory” by Jean Watts.
“Move to Prevent Typhoid in Madrid” by Jean Watts.
“Says Science Must Aid Spain” by Jean Watts.
“Spain is Different” by Jean Watts.
“Spain Opens Schools Despite War” by Jean Watts.
“Spain Tries Salvage Art During War” by Jean Watts.
“Spanish Women Greet Canadian Sisters” by Jean Watts.
“Tales of ‘Religious Persecution Spiked: Clergyman is Scornful of Fascism” by Jean Watts.
“This is EAQ Madrid Calling” by Jean Watts.
“With Dr. Bethune in Spain: Ministering to the Wounded” by Jean Watts.
5. Pamphlets and Ephemera
Listen in! This is station EAQ Madrid, Spain by Norman Bethune, J.B.S. Haldane, and Hazen Sise.
Help Spain Make the World Safe for Democracy by Tim Buck.
Spain’s Democracy Talks to Canada: An Interview by the Canadian League Against War and Fascism.
National Committee Report by the Friends of Mackenzie Papineau Battalion in Spain.
Spain’s Struggle for Democracy by Marshall J. Gauvin.
Hello Canada! Introduction by Ted Allan with Report by A.E. Smith. By the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion.
Manifesto of the Winnipeg Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy by the Winnipeg Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy.
6. Facsimile Pamphlets and Ephemera
An Easter Gift for Every Canadian Boy in Spain.
Canadian Ambulance Postcard.
Meal Ticket.
Canada’s Volunteers in Spain Need Our Support.
May Day Greetings: For A Speedy Victory Over Fasicism in Spain.
Bethune, Norman, and Hasen Sise. The Crime on the Road: Malaga-Almeria.
The Mac-Paps.
Henry Mack Postcard.
They Defend World Democracy.
They Fought for Canada—In Spain.
“They Shall Not Perish” from True Comics.
Wanted: A Father and Mother.
7. Fiction
“A Gun is Watered” by Ted Allan.
“Lisa: A Story” by Ted Allan.
“Things Best Forgotten” by Neil Bissoondath.
“Comrade: the Cat of Usera” by Dyson Carter (written under the pseud. Jack Parr).
“The Stretcher Bearers” by Hugh Garner.
“An Old Man Out to Win the War” by George Gordo.
“Buzzard Goes Fascist” by A.M. Mowat.
“It Might Be My Son” by Kathryn Peck.
“Three Envelopes” by Alfonso Rojo.
“Gentleman of the Press” by Jean Watts.
“The Grouser: A Short Story” by John Weir.
8. Poetry
“Bethuniverse” by Milton Acorn.
“Drunk Thoughts of Bethune” by Milton Acorn.
“For a Spanish Comrade” by Patrick Anderson.
“Red Moon” by Norman Bethune.
“For Guernica, Spain, This Love Letter” by George Elliott Clarke.
“The Traitor” by Leonard Cohen.
“Dear Common [i]” by Stephen Collis.
“Dear Common [ii]” by Stephen Collis.
“Dear Common [iii]” by Stephen Collis.
“Dear Common [iv]” by Stephen Collis.
“A Film Buñuel Did Not Make” by Stephen Collis.
“Ode to Spring, 1937” by Margaret Day.
“El Manisero” by Brian Dedora.
“Garcia Lorca” by Louis Dudek.
“Death of a Poet” by Mark Frutkin.
“Madrid, Heart of My Country” by Angelina Gonzales.
“In Memory of García Lorca” by Eldon Grier.
“San Antonio de la Florida” by Eldon Grier.
“Spain 1955” by Eldon Grier.
“Valle de los Caidos” by Ralph Gustafson.
“Suffer Little Children” by G.C. Haddow.
“For the Hand of Magdalena” by Ron Hawkins (and Lowest of the Low).
“Letter from Bilbao” by Ron Hawkins (and Lowest of the Low).
“To Jacob Loch” by Marion Hoshooley.
“Calling Eagles” by Leo Kennedy.
“Memorial to the Defenders” by Leo Kennedy.
“You, Spanish Comrade” by Leo Kennedy.
“Castles in Spain” by Jack King.
“Of Castles in Spain: To One Gone to the Wars” by A.M. Klein.
“Of Castles in Spain: Toreador” by A.M. Klein.
“Of Castles in Spain: Sonnet Without Music” by A.M. Klein.
“El Caudillo” by Irving Layton.
“El Gusano” by Irving Layton.
“Now When the Fire Long Frozen” by Gordon LeClaire.
“The Censored Editor” by Kenneth Leslie.
“The Bethune Wind” by Dorothy Livesay.
“Catalonia” by Dorothy Livesay.
“Lorca” by Dorothy Livesay.
“Spain” by Dorothy Livesay.
“The Lizard: October, 1939” by Dorothy Livesay.
“Two Poems: And Still We Dream” by Dorothy Livesay.
“Two Poems: Man Asleep” by Dorothy Livesay.
“The Emigrant’s Novel.” by Jesús López-Pacheco.
“Funereal Dishonours for Francisco Franco” by Jesús López-Pacheco.
“It Grows Ever Clearer” by Jesús López-Pacheco.
“Norman Bethune” by Jesús López-Pacheco.
“To Be Spanish (Sonnet of Love and Rancour)” by Jesús López-Pacheco.
“Battle Hymn for the Spanish Rebels” by L.A. Mackay.
“Three Snarls of a Disgusted Colonial” by L.A. Mackay.
“Murder Most Foul” by L.A. Mackay.
“Spain, You Hurt Me” by Seymour Mayne.
“Ode to Federico Garcia Lorca.” by Jim Nason.
“This Way” by Michael O’Mara.
“Generation” by P.K. Page.
“Poem [Let Us by Paradox…]” by P.K. Page.
“To My Son in Spain” by Aku Paivo.
“Dictator (Baritone)” by E.J. Pratt.
“Limerick” by Lionel Reid.
“Salutes” by Lionel Reid.
“To L__ B__” by William Robbins.
“They Are Not Dead” by Larry K. Ryan.
“Pamplona, July 1969” by F.R. Scott.
“Spain 1937” by F.R. Scott.
“Experiment to Demonstrate the Pact of Forgetting” by Jim Smith.
“No Pasarán” by Jim Smith.
“Non-story 2” by Jim Smith.
“Madrid” A.M. Stephen.
“Malaga” by Peter Stevens.
“The Same War Once Again” by Nicola Vulpe.
“Dog Days” by Miriam Waddington.
“Spanish Lovers Seek Respite” by Miriam Waddington.
“The Exiles: Spain” by Miriam Waddington.
“Daybreak on Spanish Hills” by Patrick Waddington.
“Dust Patterns After Revolution” by Patrick Waddington.
“Lament for Federico García Lorca” by J.A. Wainwright.
“Artists in Uniform” by J.S. Wallace.
“Spain, 1936” by J.S. Wallace.
“The as Yet Unhonoured” by J.S. Wallace.
“Poem for García Lorca, 1942” by George Woodcock.
9. Drama
Hostage by Harold Griffin.
Underground by Harold Griffin.
Canada in Spain by Graham Spry
Excerpt from The Mac-Paps by George Luscombe, Larry Cox, and Mac Reynolds.
10. Life Writing and Memoir
“Letters from Spain” by S.H. Abrams.
“That Day in Spain” by Ted Allan.
“We Were With These Brave People” by Thomas Bailey.
“History of the Mac Paps—Draft” by Edward Cecil-Smith.
“Letter: Would Like to Hear From My Canadian Comrades” by Wally Dent.
“Letter: Keep Up the Work and Fight Harder Than Ever” by Bruce Ewan.
“The Tired Radical” by Hugh Garner.
“I Fought for Canada in Spain...” by William Kardash.
“Letter: Send Me News—Also Cigarettes and Chocolates” by Larry Ryan.
11. Canadian POW’s at San Pedro
Frank Blackman
Cromwell Bowen
Harry Bowzailo
George Cunningham
Gerry Delaney
Robert Dickie
Paul Dufour
Nick Elendiuk
Urbain Hansbout
Sydney Harris
Steve Harrost
Jim Haughey
Harry Hesketh
George Hill
Arthur Hoffheinz
John Jones
Anthony Mangotic
George Markowski
Michal Malicki
Petro Moskaluk
Ernst Mueller
Willis Numemaker
Jules Paivio
Paul Scott
Leslie Warren “Curly” Wilson
Frank Wood
12. Appendix One: Author Information
13. Appendix Two: Sources, Textual Notes, Explanatory Notes
Reportage and Journalism Sources, Textual Notes, Explanatory Notes
Pamphlets and Ephemera Sources, Textual Notes, Explanatory Notes
Facsimile Pamphlets and Ephemera Sources, Textual Notes, Explanatory Notes
Fiction Sources, Textual Notes, Explanatory Notes
Poetry Sources, Textual Notes, Explanatory Notes
Drama Sources, Textual Notes, Explanatory Notes
Life Writing and Memoir Sources, Textual Notes, Explanatory Notes
Canadian POW’s at San Pedro Sources, Textual Notes, Explanatory Notes
14. Appendix Three: Suggestions for Further Reading
15. Index
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